Scream of the Daleks
by Patiens
Summary: The Doctor is on Skaro, when his fourth regeneration was commissioned to avert the creation of the Daleks. Why is he there? Why do the Daleks know the answers? Behind it all is a plan that could save Gallifrey, or bring ruin to the cosmos.
1. Chapter 1

**Scream of the Daleks**

Gary Campbell

_**Chapter 1 – Return **_

Foul grey mist wafted through a dead valley. Above the valley barren hills were lit by a red glow. There was a dull pounding emanating from the glow. Then a wheezing sound intruded. A blue box appeared. It entered into this reality with a thud. A tall thin man stepped out of the box. He wore a brown coat, a red bow-tie and a wave of hair. He gazed at the scene in front of him. He sniffed the air, tasted it. He listened, and said, 'I've been here before'.

This world wasn't much like Faradal. He had recently found out that a Timelord had, millennia ago, taken dinosaurs from Earth before they were wiped them out. He had taken them to a planet called Feradal, where they still thrived. The author of this feat was not so much a Timelord as a Timeboy. It was a Science project for the Academy. 'Which only earned him a C-' muttered the Doctor. But this wasn't Feradal. He patted the TARDIS. 'Why did you want to come here? Or- what or who brought you here?'

'Come on, this way!' said a cheery voice. 'That voice!' gasped the Doctor. 'I know it!' He couldn't see the owner of the voice, but recognised it came from the farther side of a nearby dune. He scrambled up the dune and fell face down at the top. Beneath him he saw three figures. There were a girl, a man in naval uniform, and a second, tall man. This second was leading, striding confidentally in a long tweed coat, wide-brimmed hat, and a ridiculously long striped scarf. 'Oh dear', the Doctor said quietly to himself. 'I hoped I'd lost that one for good. Nice to see Sarah and Harry though.' He waited for the three to disappear behind the next dune. 'Shouldn't really talk to them. Crossing timelines and all that'. He stood up. 'So this _is_ Skaro. Right at the moment when the Timelords gave me the mission to- but that's impossible! The Time War's locked. Mind you, I would have said lots of things were impossible not so long ago. ' He gazed toward the direction he had gone. 'To the Kaled City. Davros, Daleks, Nyder, Ronson', he mused. 'Might be fun to follow him – I mean me- and watch myself in action. Nah! I know how this ends. Davros exterminated, Daleks entombed in a bunker, yada, yada,yada. No, I'm more interested in knowing why I'm here. Back to the TARDIS!' He strode back, delighting in sinking in the cool sand. But when he saw the TARDIS again he froze momentarily-

And dove into a dune. He lay on the crest, observing four Daleks by his TARDIS. Their shells were the colour of chrome, glistening even in the dead sunlight of Skaro. They had blue half-domes on their lower casings. 'That's odd', the Doctor mused. 'The Daleks in this time are supposed to be grey and primitive. Pretty boring. But these look more sexed up, inasmuch as a Dalek could be sexed up.' A fifth Dalek arrived, gliding about two metres off the ground. 'And they definitely shouldn't be able to do that! '

'No, they shouldn't'. The Doctor shot a gaze to his left, and saw a clean- shaven man of middle-aged appearance lying beside him, watching the Daleks. The man was dressed in a black and white robe and a hood.

'Oh, it's you', remarked the Doctor.

'What?' the man whispered.

'You guys never thanked me for what I did here. I did succeed. Well, almost. Well, no, I should say I will succeed'.

'What are you talking about? Who are you? And how do you know me?'

'I'm the guy you just sent off with two Earth people to try to avert the creation of the Daleks. '

The man almost spluttered. 'But that's impossible!'

'Shhhh! Now look at those Daleks. They're not from this time period. Unless Davros created a second race of Daleks we knew nothing about'.

'The brief from the High Council of Timelords said nothing about that'.

'Not your High Council maybe'.

'You say you're the Doctor?'

'Yep'.

'But you can't cross your own timeline!'

'Oh, I have a few times already. Come on'. To the horror of his fellow Timelord, the Doctor bounded down the dune, in full view of the Daleks. 'Hi there!' he chirped. The Daleks swung their eye-stalks toward the Doctor.

'You are the Doctor!' cried one.

'Yes, that's right'.

'You are an enemy of the Daleks!' screamed another.

'Right again'. He looked at the three Daleks who hadn't spoken. 'And now, you all say –exterminate! Exterminate! And get all paranoid and crazy. Well, crazier than usual.'

The Daleks moved toward the Doctor, gun stalks twitching. But the head Dalek, with a gold-domed head, stopped them with a swivel of its eye. The Doctor sighed.

'You are so predictable. So you don't want to know why I'm here?'

'We know why you are here' the head replied, drawing out the last syllable.

The Doctor was uncharacteristically non-plussed. 'You do? Well, maybe you can tell me then!'

'You will come with us'.

'First, let me introduce my friend'. He beckoned to the Timelord, still perched on top of the dune. 'Come on, down, err- uh- what is your name?'

'Are you mad?' spluttered the man, clambering down the dune in exasperation.

'He is insane!' grated the Dalek.

'Well, thank you very much!' said the Doctor indignantly. 'Just for that, I won't go with you'.

'Badel', said the Timelord, brushing down his robes.

'Come again?'

'Badel! My name! Vice-under-castellan elect of the Panopticon of Gallifrey'.

'Wow, that's impressive'.

The Dalek swung its eye and gun-stalk toward Badel. 'Gallifrey?'

'Yes', Badel replied with dignity. The head Dalek withdrew slightly, as if engaged in conversation with something unseen.

'Badel?' asked the Doctor.

'Yes?'

'How did you get here? TARDIS?'

'No, time-ring'.

'Give it here'.

'What?'

'Give it here.' Badel handed over his time-ring, bearing the Seal of Rassillon, to the Doctor. The Doctor applied his sonic screwdriver to it.

'What are you doing?'

'Making some adjustments'. The head Dalek addressed the other Daleks.

'You will come with us!' commanded the gold Dalek.

'I don't think so', remarked the Doctor, still working on the time-ring.

'What about me?' pouted Badel. 'I'm here as well, you know!'

'Oh, you don't deserve a mention when I'm in the vicinity'. The Doctor said. 'Sorry about that. But you'll get used to it'

'MOVE!'

'Hang on', said the Doctor, placing Badel's hand on the time-ring. He activated the ring.

And the Daleks raged at empty air.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2- Portal**_

The Doctor and Badel materialised in a large space. It was a gleaming white hexagon. And they were met, as was often the case when the Doctor travelled, by armed guards. They were three men, in red uniforms, with helmets and long cloaks trimmed in silver. 'The Panopticon on Gallifrey!' Badel cried happily. And to the Doctor he said, 'I thought you fiddled with the time-ring!'

'I did. Ask the guard who the chancellor is'.

'Lord Goth, of course'.

'Ask him'. Badel walked up to the nearest guard, a tall, burly figure.

'The Chancellor's Lord Diamod, Sir', said the guard, over-matter-of-factly. 'Would you both come with us'.

'Of course', said the Doctor, following the guards. Badel followed, remarking, 'he's taken us to the wrong time-zone. And I've just sent him to avert the creation of the Daleks'.

The Doctor and Badel were lead through a series of greyish corridors. At length they arrived at a set of double-doors, set almost inconspicuously into the walls. A guard knocked. 'Enter', came a languid reply from within. The doors opened, and the Doctor and Badel walked into an office. Sitting at an unvarnished and littered wooden desk was a man of thirty-ish appearance, robed in red, wearing a green skull-cup. He was writing with a pen in the nineteenth century Terran style. He looked up.

And smiled. 'Doctor!' he beamed. He waved his hand courteously. 'That will be all, guards'. The guards left. 'Please, please, come in'. He busied himself finding two chairs.

'Who is this, Doctor?' Badel asked.

'This', replied the Doctor, 'is Lord Diamod, Chancellor of Gallifrey'.

'You _have_ taken us to the wrong time-zone!' Badel protested. 'Why?'

'Good question,' said the Doctor, seating himself. He looked at the Chancellor. 'How could I have got here if the Time War is locked? Mind you, I'd love to meet President Rassillon'.

'Rassillon!' Badel breathed in awe.

'Tea?' Diamod asked, seating himself.

'Oh yes, please!' Diamod rang the bell for tea. 'Yeah, I'd love to meet up for a good ol' chat'. And he added seriously. 'And there are so many things to discuss'.

'Alas, Doctor, His Excellency is engaged today'.

'What? And me an ex-president of Gallifrey? Courtesy surely-'

'Doctor', interjected the Chancellor politely, 'the first time you were president Gallifrey was invaded – twice. The second you reigned _in absentia. _Yours was hardly one of the happier terms of office. You are fortunate not to be in chains. Or worse.

'Is this the last day of the War?'

'Oh yes, Doctor'.

'And has my tenth regeneration thwarted your President's scheme to end time and elevate the Time Lords to the level of pure consciousness? Not that living in pure consciousness could be terribly interesting'.

'Yes, Doctor', the Chancellor replied wearily.

'Then what glimmer of hope could remain for you? Whatever it is, count me out!'

Chancellor Diamod turned to Badel. 'Is he always like this?' Badel shrugged.

'Oh, I'm sorry', said the Doctor. 'This is Badel'.

'Oh, don't mind me', said Badel.

'Badel was sent by your predecessor, Chancellor Goth, to my fourth regeneration to send him- I mean me – on that mission to avert the creation of the Daleks.'

'Ah, it's a small universe, isn't it?' said Faramond.'

'Quite', said Badel, affecting patience.

'I thought you were one of the Doctor's Terran companions. Though they are usually female. You know, I believe a future regeneration of yours in wandering about the Citadel. I'll introduce you to yourself. Under-castellan I believe you are'.

'Only _under_-Castellan'? spat Badel.

'We met up on Skaro a few moments ago', the Doctor interjected. 'Twice, in fact', he added. 'But in two bodies. Me, not him. A bit complicated you know'. Diamod nodded understandingly, and a female functionary entered and served tea.

'A tea Timelady!' the Doctor joked.

All three stared blankly at him. The Doctor took a sip of tea. The subject of the joke left.

'Doctor', Diamod began, taking advantage of the fact that the Doctor's mouth was engaged in drinking tea, 'as you know, the Daleks rescued Davros from the Nightmare Child'

. 'Yes. Dalek Caan snatched him from the time vortex'.

'The Daleks now have a temporal portal in and out of the Time War: the point where Caan saved his creator. They have given us the coordinates of that point'.

'Why?'

'To keep the portal open. They can't do it themselves. They need our help. So we have given it to them'.

'Again, why?'

'The Daleks are using the portal to go to the time of their creation by Davros'. Diamod leant back in his chair and sipped. 'They intend to undo their own creation'.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

On Skaro, a door slid open. Light pierced a small chamber. A shape entered: a wizened form, a torso sitting in a machine. Its shut eyes were sink into a pronounced skull, which pulsed with greyish veins. A blue light was embedded in his forehead. The figure slid silently into the centre of the room, rotated toward the door. A tall, gaunt-looking man, dressed in a black uniform and gloves, followed into the room.

'Close the door', commanded the first figure. The other did so. 'Nyder, open the viewing panel'. The black man walked to a grey cabinet set in the wall. He lightly pressed a button, and a panel slid away, revealing a pulsating green mass, writhing with many tentacles. The creature was suspended in fluid.

'Nyder?'

'Yes, Davros?'

'What do you think?'

'It's magnificent'.

'It's beautiful', whispered Davros. 'It is the height and the end of evolution. What we, the Kaleds, must become. What we will become'. Nyder looked at the creature impassively. Davros flicked a switch on the panel of the machine which carried him. Two men in white uniforms entered, pushing a tall grey artifice. It was legless and headless. Attached to its torso was a long rod which a cup at the end. There was also a short metal tube. The men let the thing rest by Davros. 'Place the organism in the travel machine', said Davros.

A man opened the top of the cabinet, while the other lifted it out with a metallic net. The thing was taken to the travel machine. It was lowered into the casing It rested in a hollow designed to receive it. Immediately tentacles gripped the rim of the machine, attempting to haul the fleshy mass out, but it was sealed as the domed head was placed over the top of the machine.

'Now', commanded Davros, 'leave us'. The men left. Davros pressed a control. The 'arms' of the machine twitched. The head swivelled and the eyestalk moved slowly up and down. It rotated on its base a little. 'It will take a little while for it to assimilate its mechanical body', remarked Davros. 'Like a soldier wearing full battledress for the first time'.

Suddenly the machine started flailing its appendages wildly. It moved across the floor erratically. It emitted a harsh sound like static, which, with effort, transformed into words.

'Release me!' It turned its gun barrel on Davros and Nyder. 'Release me! Exterminate!' A number of prongs clicked in and out of the barrel, uselessly.

'Excellent', Davros stated. He flicked a switch, and the machine was immediately inert again. Nyder looked at Davros. Davros saw the question in his cold eyes. 'I expected that Nyder. That is why I did not give it full power. You see, it fears. It fears itself, because it does not yet understand itself. I have created it to survive beyond anything else. To survive it must hate anything opposed to its survival. To hate, it must first fear. So it is entirely appropriate, -necessary, in fact- that its first response to itself and the world should be fear'. Leaving the machine, Davros made for the door. 'We will demonstrate the Mark III travelling machine to the scientific corps tomorrow.'

'So soon?' enquired Nyder. Davros stopped and turned toward Nyder.

'It will have stabilised sufficiently by then. It is imperative that the corps see my results as soon as possible. I sense there are those who have suspicions about my work. They must see that their suspicions are useless, and too late! My ever-cautious Nyder, I will be in complete control. I can bypass the controlling organism and command the travel machine by voice command. Now, we must leave it to ponder its own existence – and its destiny!' And they left.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4**_

The Doctor and Chancellor Diamod were walking through the Chancellery garden. It was an expanse of magnificent beauty, rich in colour and perfume. Badel had gone to the Under-Castellan's office to report to himself. Diamod took in a deep breath, smiled serenely and said 'this garden is dimensionally transcendental. The work of a chancellor from the ancient times. When I was only a chancellery secretary, I used to come here to escape. Once I lost myself in this glory for three days. When the Chancellery demanded an explanation for my absence, I said I had been disorientated by pre-regenerational stress! At the age of only three hundred! I doubt they believed me'.

'I understand the burden of your office, Chancellor', said the Doctor sympathetically.

'Ah yes', mused Diamod. 'But yours is the greater burden, Doctor. You pretend to live a life of freedom, yet you continually hold the universe in your hands. Its fate seems to spiral toward you'.

'Chancellor?'

'Yes, Doctor?'

'This is surely the most audacious thing the Daleks have ever attempted.'

'And the most logical. And the most belated. They know, and have always known, that their relationship with Davros has been the cause of defeat after defeat. True, they have reached a stage where they can challenge one of the most ancient civilisations in the cosmos. But they will not win. As, indeed, we will not win. The weakness inherent in them is evident. They, supposedly the highest life form-'

'Owe their existence to a being they must regard as inferior'.

'Quite. And so they hate their creator for being their creator. And themselves for being made dependent upon him. Further, emotionless beings, created emotionless by their creator, find themselves tied to the fate of a being propelled by passion. '

'With the risks that passion brings'.

'Precisely. So they come up with a plan. They go back in time to exterminate Davros and their own genetic ancestors.'

'But reproducing themselves in their place'.

'Thus effectively becoming their own creators'. The Doctor allowed himself a quiet guffaw. 'Yeah, it's ingenious alright. And what makes the Timelords so convinced they should play a part?'

'The end of the war, Doctor! Or rather, the undoing of the Time War. It will never have happened. The timeline linking Davros with the Daleks leads to the Time War. Without Davros, no war. Gallifrey saved, Doctor!'

'And what will replace the universe without Davros?' the Doctor seethed. 'Maybe something worse!'

'Perhaps', the chancellor spoke calmly. 'But for the Timelords – your people, Doctor – it is the last hope'.

'You can't trust the Daleks!'

'Who said anything about trusting them?' The Doctor forced himself to calm down. 'What guarantee do you have that the Daleks will do only what they say they will?'.

'None whatsoever. Which is why we said we would only keep the portal open if we sent an' He paused a little. 'Observer'.

'Oh no', protested the Doctor. 'No, no, I won't do it'.

'You will ensure they stick to the brief: destroy Davros and his creations'.

'How am I supposed to do that?'

'They protested when we told them we were sending you. But they had to accept'.

'I won't do it! Perverting the timeline to such a degree!'

'Come now, Doctor! Your past self is perverting – as you call it- time. That's what started this war in the first place.'

The Doctor laughed. 'So you want me to change a timeline I've already changed'.

'No. Just let the Daleks do what they have to do. But make sure they do it and nothing else. You must also convince your fourth regeneration to abandon his mission. If he interferes-'.

'That'll be tough'.

'We'll send Badel with you. He should be able to help you in that area. The Matrix will extend itself through the portal following your biological signature. So we will be able to observe you'.

'I take it the Daleks have my TARDIS'.

'Yes, that was agreed upon. You'll get it back when the Daleks succeed'.

'If they succeed'.

'Doctor, you should know. If you attempt to stop the Daleks, or defend Davros, they will kill you. They have made that quite clear. Even if we close the portal in retaliation.'

The Doctor sighed both in resignation and anger. 'When do I go? Diamod smiled thinly. 'No time like the present, Doctor. No time-rings, Doctor. You will be transported directly by the Matrix itself.' The Doctor disappeared amidst the ferns. And Diamod walked on.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5**_

The Doctor and Badel materialised in exactly the place and time they had fled. They found themselves facing the five Daleks. The Doctor faced the gold-headed Dalek sternly. 'First, some ground rules', he said.

'Inferior beings do not make conditions'.

'I can't believe I'm saying this, but- you can only kill Davros and his Daleks. No-one else!'

'Unacceptable'.

'Well, only necessary killings. What on Skaro am I saying? I can't negotiate killings!'

'Conditions unacceptable', grated the Dalek. 'All exterminations are necessary. If you attempt to stop us, you will be exterminated.' A luminous blue ring appeared around the TARDIS, and it disappeared. 'Your TARDIS is in a temporal lock. It will be unlocked when the mission has been completed. We will proceed'.

'Wait!' the Doctor protested. But the Daleks had already risen off the ground, and were sweeping into the sky. 'Well', asked Badel. 'What are _we _supposed to do?' Immediately however the Doctor and Badel soared up after them. 'The Daleks have extended their force shields to carry us', the Doctor shouted above the wind. Badel, they're not going to explain anything to us! As far as they're concerned, we're baggage'.

The Daleks and the two Timelords moved across the landscape at a terrific speed. The pocked, war-battered landscape of Skaro raced beneath them. They passed over a mountain, and the domed city of the Kaleds appeared before. Then they flew over a battle. Artillery exchanged fire; soldiers entrenched in the hills fired sporadically. The conflict seemed to interest the Daleks, and they flew closer to view them. The Doctor scanned the scene in horror. Soon the battle was behind them and the Kaled dome was becoming larger. 'Where are we going?' Badel shouted.

'My guess is to the service tunnels to the bunker of Davros's Elite Corps. I don't have many pleasant memories of those tunnels. Some rather nasty creatures doing bad impressions of giant clams!'

'Giant clams don't sound too bad! Can't you unrun a clam?'

'Oh the mutants in those tunnels are fine compared with the monsters with us right now'.


End file.
